WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he won assurances of greater U.S. support in fighting Islamic State militants in talks on Monday with President Donald Trump and top advisers, but cautioned that military might alone would not be sufficient.

Abadi's remarks followed his first face-to-face meeting at the White House with Trump, who took office on Jan. 20 pledging a new strategy to defeat the hardline militant group that seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Even before Trump took office, Iraqi forces recaptured a string of major cities from Islamic State, shrank the militant group's finances and significantly stemmed the flow of foreign fighters, all with the support of U.S.-led coalition air strikes and military advisers.

Abadi said Trump appeared more enthusiastic about battling Islamist extremists than Barack Obama's administration had been.

"I think they're prepared to do more to fight terrorism and be more engaged," Abadi told a forum in Washington hours after his meeting with Trump, adding he had been told U.S. "support will not only continue but will accelerate."

"But of course we have to be careful here," Abadi said. "We are not talking about military confrontation as such. Committing troops is one thing, while fighting terrorism is another thing."

Abadi, who leads the Shi'ite majority government in Baghdad, said it would be crucial to win over the local population in Sunni-dominated Mosul to achieve lasting peace.

A White House statement about the meeting said both Trump and Abadi agreed that "terrorism cannot be defeated by military might alone," and the two leaders called for deepening commercial ties, including in the energy sector.

At the forum, Abadi called for more financial contributions from the international community.

"We (would) love to see more funds so that we can quickly (regain) prosperity and stabilization in these areas," he said.

TOUGH JOB

Abadi spoke as Iraqi forces made steady progress in seizing back Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, from Islamic State, which officials expect will become a more classic insurgency once it loses its last major strongholds.

In a sign of the threat, a car bomb killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 45 in a mainly Shi'ite southern district, police and medical sources said.

There was no claim of responsibility, but Islamic State has carried out similar attacks in Baghdad and other cities as its hold on Mosul weakens.

Earlier in the day, as the two men met, Trump told Abadi that he knew his forces were fighting hard.

"It's not an easy job," Trump said. "It's a very tough job. Your soldiers are fighting hard. I know Mosul is moving along. ... We will figure something out.

"Our main thrust is we have to get rid of ISIS. We're going to get rid of ISIS. It will happen. It's happening right now," Trump added, using an acronym for Islamic State.

Asked whether he had seen the Trump administration's plan to wipe out Islamic State, Abadi said: "I haven't seen a full plan. I know there is a plan. I haven't seen it."

Abadi is in Washington this week ahead of a gathering of world leaders of a coalition fighting Islamic State.

In many ways, his visit comes at a high point for him after successfully appealing to Trump to remove Iraq from a list of countries included in a revamped travel ban.

Trump decided this month's revised order temporarily banning the entry of travelers from several Muslim-majority nations would not include Iraq because of its cooperation with the United States. Both the initial Jan. 27 travel ban and the revised version have been blocked by federal courts.

Detractors argue the ban discriminated against Muslims in violation of the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom. Trump says the measure is necessary for national security to protect the country from terrorist attacks.

"I thank you for removing Iraq from the presidential order ... this was a positive response to the Iraqi request that betters the relationship with Iraq and the value of Iraq as far as Iraqi-American relations," Abadi told Trump.

Related Articles

We encourage you to use comments to engage with users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:

Enrichthe conversation

Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.

Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically.

Use standard writing style. Include punctuation and upper and lower cases.

NOTE: Spam and/or promotional messages and links within a comment will be removed

Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user.

Don’t Monopolize the Conversation. We appreciate passion and conviction, but we also believe strongly in giving everyone a chance to air their thoughts. Therefore, in addition to civil interaction, we expect commenters to offer their opinions succinctly and thoughtfully, but not so repeatedly that others are annoyed or offended. If we receive complaints about individuals who take over a thread or forum, we reserve the right to ban them from the site, without recourse.

Only English comments will be allowed.

Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.

I have read Investing.com's comments guidelines and agree to the terms described.

Disclaimer:Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.

Risk Disclosure:Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information contained within this website including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible. Currency trading on margin involves high risk, and is not suitable for all investors. Trading or investing in cryptocurrencies carries with it potential risks. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Cryptocurrencies are not suitable for all investors.Before deciding to trade foreign exchange or any other financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite.Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex and cryptocurrency prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn’t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.